Settling in

I have definitely realized that it is going to be hard to live off of 615 pounds a month. It really is a bad time for Americans in London regarding the exchange rate. Although the exchange rate is 2:1, the actual cost of things is about 1:1. For example, a London guidebook I was looking at was 11.99 pounds, which is about $24US, but the book also had the price for US customers on the back, which was about $12US. I will really have to work on a budget.

I finally took some pictures of the outside of my apartment building. It is very nice and modern looking from the outside, whereas other interns have housing in little old townhomes (which I think I would have preferred, except that they are pretty much in the "suburbs").



So, today has been a pretty laid back day. First, my roomate and I went to meet one of her friends who actually works nearby our flat. She was only able to walk with us for about an hour because she was on her work break, but she walked around one of the street markets with us and the grocery store. We discussed some of the differences between America and Britain since she had lived in the U.S. before. Luckily, the grocery store had soy milk (but not chocolate soy milk) and soy yogurt. The Brit said that I pronounced it strange, so I tried to pronounce it the way she did, but I just couldn't. They actually spell it with and 'h' and say it one too (yoghurt). Strangely, the didn't have grape jelly, so we got something that looked close enough, called damson. I think I will be living off PB&J and ramen for now.

Then we walked back home and Jesika wanted to take a nap and then hang out with another friend (she already knows a lot people here). I wanted to buy a guide book of London and I didn't want to nap because I need to get to bed early tonight. We have to be at the Mountbatten office around 9 tomorrow morning. So I went on my own to buy a cell phone from the Carphone Warehouse and a couple of books from Borders. I got the Veggie and Organic London guidebook and the book Fun for a Fiver or Less in London. I found a Wagamama in the same area, which is a restaurant that was recommended to me by my former co-worker Sybil and another American living in London that we had met last night at the Thai Buffet restaurant. I will have to check it out later. Then I stopped at the gym on the way home to check out the rates. It's not too bad, until you translate it to US dollars (36 pounds=about 72 US dollars). Jesika's friend Van said that we had to stop doing that because we will just feel really poor.

A little bit about what I have learned so far:

I live in Central East London in an area called Islington. Since it is in the main city area, things are more expensive here (great!). :P

London is separated into zones, which are concentric circles around the center of the city, with Zone 1 being the "bullseye".

Postal codes are VERY IMPORTANT in London, sometimes more so than the address. For example, mine is EC1V 8AE. All I know is that the EC1V tells you that I am in the East Central Head District of London and 8AE tell you that I am in Sector 8, Unit AE, whatever all that means.

This is down the main street by my house: